It just makes sense

There are 5 human senses. Which one is most important? Or are they all important? If we lose even part of any one of our 5 senses, it would diminish the enjoyment and appreciation we have for life. Can you imagine if we didn't have such sensitive taste buds and couldn't enjoy our favorite foods like we used to? Or if our sense of touch was gone and we could no longer appreciate that soft blanket or how it feels to touch a baby's soft cheek!
Each and every sense that most of us were blessed to be born with plays a role in our life's enjoyment.
Of course you knew the sense that I appreciate the most; the sense of hearing!
I am so grateful to be able to hear. I do not take for granted the ability to easily enjoy having a great conversation in almost any environment. I am truly thankful that I am able to hear and enjoy music, movies, television, and even talk radio! Hearing well means being aware and involved in our environment.
Hearing should not be taken for granted and I for one am proud to say that better hearing just makes sense.

Our team is the best!

Last night I watched two NBA basketball games. The Los Angeles Lakers were in Portland playing the Blazers and the Los Angeles Clippers were at Staples Center playing the Memphis Grizzlies. Any other year I would have been more interested in the Laker game. This year is different because the Clippers have a group of players who play together as a team while the Lakers superstar parts are still struggling to find their identity.
Is teamwork that important to the success of a franchise or business? The answer is definitely yes! At Arcade Hearing Aid Center, we believe our teamwork is one of our biggest strengths. Much of that credit goes to our front-office personnel. Faith and Fabby make sure our patients are treated with respect, kindness, and understanding. We know our patients appreciate them because we get compliments about them on a daily basis. I have worked at many clinics and I see the difference that having a great team behind you can make for us and our patients. We are very lucky to have such a wonderful staff.
Now if I have to compare Arcade Hearing to either the Lakers or Clippers, I prefer the Laker comparison because, like us, the Lakers have such a long tradition of excellence. However, this may be the time for businesses to strive to be more like the Clippers. Go teamwork!

Our new location!

We have completed our move to the new location! Our new address is:
1911 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica Ca 90403
(310)829-6444

Please begin using our new phone number immediately. We had some problems the last few days. Verizon was supposed to forward calls to our new number but didn't. We apologize for any inconvenience that may have caused. We believe we have contacted everyone who left a message.
Anyhow, our team has been working hard to organize everything at the new place and we are almost there!
It is our hope that most will find our new location more convenient. We have a parking lot in the back and plenty of metered spots in front. We are close to both Saint Johns and UCLA/Santa Monica Hospitals and many of the worlds best doctors. It is sad to leave Downtown Santa Monica but, as George Jefferson used to say, "We're moving on up!"

Big Business VS Small Business

It seems like more and more Hearing Aid Manufacturers are opening up or buying Hearing Aid Clinics. This may mean that the end is nearing for the "Little Guys." Back in the day, most Hearing Aid Clinics were run by individuals or were family run. These clinics were able to provide a level of service and personal touch that cannot be achieved in a big corporate environment. The more detached that the leaders of a company are, the harder it is to create a caring, friendly place to go to.
These clinics can usually only offer the one manufacturers product. This puts you the consumer at a disadvantage because it limits your choice, which is not a good thing.
Supporting local business, supporting small business, supporting individual business, and supporting family business is what you are doing when you choose Arcade Hearing Aid Center. We appreciate your support and hope we can continue to remain independent. We firmly believe that individual and personalized service is one of the major factors of success with hearing instruments. We are thankful for all of our supporters and look forward serving you well into the future.

Farewell to Downtown Santa Monica

A couple of months ago the owners of our building on 2nd Street announced their plans to demolish the building and go "bigger and better." Arcade Hearing Aid Center moved into the "Arcade" style building in 1950 when it was brand new. After 62 years there, it is going to be a little emotional leaving.
The good news is we have found another location in Santa Monica and are already preparing for our grand re-opening on November 1st.
Our new location is 1911 Wilshire Blvd. near 20th Street. We believe this location will be more convenient for our valued patients as it is very close to both St. John's and Santa Monica/UCLA Hospitals and many of the worlds finest Doctors. There is parking available in the back and usually ample street parking as well. We feel very fortunate that this space was available. Our former space was a great location but it continues to get more congested and parking can be a huge issue.
As for our phone numbers, it appears we will not be able to keep the ones we have been using for over 60 years, because we are moving to a different zone in Santa Monica. At least for the first few months we can be reached thru the old numbers but eventually that will change. We will inform via our website www.arcadehearing.net and our patient newsletter.
We hope to make this move as seamless as possible and will be open our normal hours.
We invite everyone to come see our new location. See you soon!
Update! Our new phone number is (310)829-6444 and fax is (310)829-6777
We will be forwarding calls from our old number for a few months if you forget but eventually we will completely transition to the new numbers.

What is SoundRecover and do I need it?

High frequency hearing loss is the most common type of hearing loss and has historically been the most challenging type of hearing loss to fit successfully. Until recently, that is. With Swiss manufacturer Phonak's SoundRecover, high frequency information can now be heard in a comfortable and seamless way.
SoundRecover was introduced a few years ago and has been tremendous! In our clinics, and around the world new and experienced hearing aid users and the professionals who fit them are singing the praises of Phonak products and the success of SoundRecover.
SoundRecover takes high frequency sounds and moves them over to lower frequencies, where hearing is usually better. The Phonak engineers call this frequency compression. Other companies have similar frequency transposition in their hearing aids, but none of them have had the end-user acceptability of Phonak.
Some may ask; Why not just crank up the gain/volume at those high frequencies where the hearing loss is the worse? That actually is becoming more and more possible now that
feedback suppression has improved so dramatically in the last few years. The simple answer is sound quality. Too many highs versus mid and low frequencies can make the sound tinny, brassy, microphony(sic), shrill, and just downright annoying! So we wind up turning them down to get rid of the poor sound quality and essentially give up on the high frequencies! When I fit peole with SoundRecover, I feel like Im not just giving up on the highs but helping people reach new heights. When people tell me they're hearing sounds they never heard before and understanding better than ever that is awesome!

Remote Microphones and Bluetooth/Wireless

One of the most under-utilized technologies available today for people with hearing problems is the Remote Microphone. Until recently, remote mics have only been available thru expensive and cumbersome FM systems. FM mics worked great, however, because it required wearing a bulky Behind the Ear(BTE) hearing instrument and a boot added onto the hearing instrument, along with a transmitter, and the fact it can add thousands of dollars onto the cost, most people chose not to use FM.
In 2012, things are different. The Hearing Industry has introduced an exciting new technology and actually offers it a fraction of the cost of the previous technology. Still, less than 10% of Hearing Aid users opt in to utilize it.
Resound and Oticon are the two leaders in this technology. Oticon requires using their Streamer with their wireless hearing instruments. Resound does not require a streamer and is therefore less cumbersome.
I believe we will be seeing more companies coming out with similar devices because it is truly a great, relatively inexpensive technology.

Too much already!

How long are we going to let ourselves keep damaging our hearing? Now that the civilized world has laws protecting our health in public places (like smoking bans), can we now include our hearing as something we would like to protect?
A recent study by the House Ear Clinic confirmed what many of us already knew, exposure to loud noise, such as that which we experience in a music concert, can cause irreversible damage to our hearing and can cause tinnitus. Hearing tests on individuals who just attended a concert without earplugs show a decrease in hearing following the concert and many cases of tinnitus. Tinnitus is a noise in the ear, usually a ringing or buzzing TTS stands for Temporary Threshold Shift and is common after attending a concert. With TTS, the hair cells in the inner ear are "knocked down" by the physical force of the loud sound waves. Many times they will recover but sometimes they don't. If they don't recover, this can become a permanent condition and something that will have to be dealt with the rest of your life!
What can be done about this? Well, for one, you can avoid loud music altogether. Don't go to concerts, don't use headphones, and don't crank up your home or car stereo. However, there are many people who cannot avoid these things or simply don't want to give these things up. For those people it is imperative that earplugs are used when exposed to these situations. We can also turn down the volume and take lots of breaks. If you do experience a sudden onset of hearing loss or tinnitus it is extremely important to get to an Ear Nose Throat Doctor(ENT) ASAP. A Hearing Test is also strongly recommended.
What about those who are ignorant about the harmful effects of loud noise? Many of these people find out about it after it's too late and the damage has been done. Do we continue to make people find out about noise damage the hard way? Many of these "victims" are teenagers and kids and we simply are not doing enough to protect them from permanent ear damage.
So what can we do? It sometimes is very difficult to convince others to turn it down or even just to wear earplugs. Even when venues hand out earplugs free of charge, many still choose to expose their ears and decline to use them so they can get the "full experience."
I believe that in the near future any public place will have regulations in place that limit the decibel levels to less harmful, and in my opinion, more enjoyable listening levels. In the meantime, listener beware!

What is SSD and is there any hope?

SSD stands for Single Sided Deafness. It is used to describe the hearing of someone who has normal hearing in one ear and a "complete loss" in the other ear. Until recently, the options for help were very limited and not very effective.
People with SSD now have some hope! The BAHA has been effectively treating SSD for a few years now. It usually is done with a surgical implant behind the pinna, which allows a processor to snap off and on. Most procedures are done unilaterally on the bad ear. The processor receives the sound, amplifies it, then sends it via bone conduction where it is heard in the better cochlea. There is also a headband version. The BAHA is not classified as a hearing aid and in many cases may be covered by insurance.
Another option that has come out recently is Phonak's new Cros hearing aid. I have personally fit over a dozen patients with this and nobody has returned it! All of my patients, wether with a Cros or a bi-Cros, have reported significant improvement with this device. Battery life can be short (2-3 days) but it is worth the extra hassle.
Just a couple of years ago I had to counsel SSD sufferers that there really was no effective solution available. Now I am happy to report that this is no longer true! With the improvement in wireless technology, Phonak has managed to deliver this exceptional product in a discreet and comfortable package.

Sonic: A new beginning

Sonic Innovations has recently released a new product called the Flip. The Flip is a Receiver in the Ear(RITE) hearing instrument that represents the first new development from Sonic (the name they now prefer) in years. Last year Sonic was purchased by industry giant William Demant and that gave the American company a huge boost in its development and research, allowing Sonic to continue to grow and thrive with new competitive technology. William Demant is the Danish parent company of Oticon, a leader in hearing instrument technology. Sonic has been able to use the existing technology from Oticon and put their own touches and technology to develop a unique and advanced product in the Flip.
One of the features that is unique is the fact that the Flip uses a size 13 battery and predicts over 225 hours of battery life! This is huge for people who like the RITE style but find it difficult to handle and change smaller batteries very often. It also saves some money in the long run. Because it is slightly larger, it is easier for people with dexterity issues to handle. It is still nearly invisible because it hides behind the ear even though it is larger than others. Another cool feature is the rotary volume wheel. This is one of those "old school" features that never should have gone away in the first place. Flip offers optional wireless connectivity to cell phones, tv's, mp3's, etc. via its Soundgate streamer.
Sonic has always been known for their industry-leading noise reduction and they have made that even better! So far my patients have loved them and have adapted to them very quickly.

More new stuff coming soon

One of the developments in the last few years has been further miniaturization of hearing instruments. When the lyric came out a few years ago, it brought attention to the fact that there are a lot of people who want an "invisible" hearing solution. The problem with the Lyric is that, because it is not a custom made instrument and fits deep into the ear canal, it does not fit most people. It is also a very expensive long term solution that many cannot afford. The Lyric is also an analog processor that does not utilize the many advantages of having a much smarter digital processor.
Companies like Starkey came out with an IIC(invisible in canal) solution that is custom made and utilizes all of the new digital technology, making it more comfortable and better sounding, especially in background noise. Siemens and Phonak also came out with a mini CIC that is very discreet but not as deep fitting as the Starkey. This year a couple more companies have developed an "invisible" hearing instrument. Oticon and Unitron will be introducing their new products at the AAA convention in Boston later this month. Traditionally, these "invisible" devices have only been available in the top tiers of technology, but Unitron is making it available in all technology levels, making it more accessible to those who can't afford or don't need the upper level technology. Look for other manufacturers to also make theirs available in more affordable technology levels.

New products coming soon

A couple of blogs ago I promised to discuss some new products that have been released recently or will be soon. At the Starkey Hearing Innovation Expo in January we were allowed a sneak peak at some exciting new developments.
One of the coolest things was the wireless cic (completely in canal) that allows wireless streaming from a television directly to the hearing devices with nothing else to wear. One could be watching tv with the sound turned down while getting a customised audio signal directly into their ear canals. You can switch back and forth with a remote control.
Starkey also plans to come out soon with their mobile phone solution, which will be the first to not require any accessory to use. I think that will be popular as people do not want to wear anything extra if they don't have to.
With the Annual American Academy of Audiology Convention coming up, there will be lot more to come. Stay tuned.

the sounds of Maui part 2

There were many other beautiful sounds in Maui besides the waves crashing to shore. I sometimes wish we could compile sound albums just like we do photo albums. Thanks to my iPhone, it is easy to take a short video that captures both!
The sound of seagulls and other birds can be missed by many people with hearing loss. Many people remark on how they enjoy the bird noise after they start to use hearing instruments. Bird-watching is much more enjoyable If we can associate and recognize a sound with images of the birds. Some hearing instrument companies have a feature that can move higher frequency sounds over into lower frequency regions, so now people with high frequency hearing loss can hear and enjoy the sounds of even the softest birdsong.
The sound of whales communicating has been recorded and observed for many years. Some of the snorkelers I talked with reported hearing the whales singing while they were underwater! Since phonak and siemens have come out with waterproof hearing instruments, I plan to go back to Maui someday soon to see if I can hear the whales better with hearing instruments! Sounds like a good excuse for a return trip to our great state; Hawaii.

The sounds of Maui

Last week I had the pleasure of going to Maui for a hearing aid business summit. My wife came along and we extended the trip so we could spend Valentines Day in Hawaii. Now that's what I call mixing business with pleasure!
Hawaii is known for its beautiful sunsets and views and this past week did not disappoint. They are spectacular.
I closely paid attention to the sounds of Maui as well. Being a Hearing Health Professional, I try to imagine what it is like for people who can't hear these sounds. What sounds am I referring to?
The sound of waves gently crashing to shore is so peaceful and relaxing. One day as my wife and I were walking along the beach, we passed a jogger who was wearing headphones. My wife said "why would anyone want to block out the sounds of nature?"
It occurred to me that the jogger, like many of us, has taken for granted the power and beauty of sounds from our natural world.
In treating hearing loss, we are mainly concerned with optimizing speech, but we also need to realize that nature provides us with some of the greatest sounds we could imagine and should be appreciated just as much.

My experience at the Hearing Innovation Expo

In early January of this year I was fortunate enough to attend the Hearing Innovation Expo in Las Vegas. It was hosted by Starkey Hearing. They are the last of the big American Hearing Aid companies and are located in Minnesota. The owner of Starkey is Bill Austin. His Starkey Foundation has given thousands of hearing aids to the less fortunate all around the world. This foundation has allowed Mr. Austin to accumulate quite an impressive list of friends and some of them flew half way around the globe to speak to our group. Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic spoke and it was fascinating to hear his vision of space travel and deep ocean exploration, the two most mysterious and unexplored areas of our known universe. The closing night of the expo featured Bill Clinton. His foundation has accomplished some tremendous things such as lowering the price of aids drugs in third world countries. He and Bill Austin seem to share similar visions and have the ability to reach out and affect things on a global level.
Next time I will discuss some of the amazing products we learned about! 

My first blog

Hello everyone this is my first blog. My name is Matt Michaels and I am an Audiologist at Arcade Hearing Aid Center and American Hearing and Balance. These are both local family businesses located in beautiful Southern California. My Mother Patricia Michaels became a Hearing Aid Specialist over 25 years ago and purchased Arcade Hearing Aid Center in Santa Monica. I became an Audiologist in 1995 after training at the House Clinic and VA West Los Angeles. My brother , Keith Michaels, is also an Audiologist. Together, we have 7 Hearing Clinics and we love what we do! My plan for this blog space is to give you helpful advise and tips to help you understand what it takes to survive and thrive no matter what level of hearing impairment you or a family member/friend may have. I will try my best to make it interesting and easy to follow. It may contain some interesting facts or just me sharing an experience I have had. Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy and welcome to Hear here and everywhere! Matt